Fight for Us

Chapter 23

"Breathe in, breathe out, Jimin ah! I know you can make it!"

Jimin took in a deep breath, taking a stronger hold of her friend's hand. The other nurse came to her side, wiping her seat away with a towel. She sucked in a deep breath, gritting her teeth and closing her eyes because of the intense pain. It had been 8 hours since she had entered into labor and she wasn't sure if she would be able to hold it much longer.

From the very beginning of her pregnancy, she had known that, if she chose natural delivery, it would hurt. But she could never guess it hurt that much.

The easiest way she could find to describe that pain was as if it was ripping her insides. It was like she was being torn apart.

They had given her an epidural; 3 hours before, just before she was moved to the delivery room; but she could already feel its effects fading away. The pain was excruciating; and Jimin was pretty sure she was losing blood. She couldn't tell how much, but she was sure she was bleeding heavily.

"Ah-ahh I-I c-can't!" She muttered, shaking her head from one side to another desperately, even arching her back slightly.

"Miss Yu, please keep calm!"

Jimin opened her eyes wide, breathing deeply. Giselle clutched on her hand, making her look at her, "Rina, Rina! Look at me!"

"G-Gi...a-ahh!"

The doctor looked up at Jimin, and said to her, "You'll be crowning soon, Miss Yu. Hold on."

The nurse wiped her sweat again, as Jimin closed her eyes and shook her head from one side to another, feeling light headed. She opened her eyes and began breathing heavily as another set of contractions hit her.

"That's right honey, you can do it!" The nurse encouraged her, putting the loose strands of disheveled hair out of her face.

"When I say 3, you have to push." The doctor said, her voice firm.

"1,2,3, PUSH!"

Jimin squeezed her eyes shut, and gritted her teeth with an enormous strength, arching her back as she let out a muffled scream. She laid her head back on the bed, breathing heavily.

"I can see the baby's head!" The nurse next to her said, after looking down for a moment.

"You're almost there! Push, Miss Yu! Push!"

Jimin breathed in deeply, and held her friend's hand with a lot of strength and arched her back to the front, making a piercing scream as she focused all of her being's strength into that single moment.

And it was like time stopped.

Her back was pushed down to the bed, her body surrendering to exhaustion. With her eyes half-lidded, and her vision blurred with tears of pain, all she could hear was her hard breathing and her heartbeat, as the intense pain slowly left her body, as if it had never been there.

She closed her eyes for a moment, feeling completely light-headed.

...

"...Jimin"

She bit her lip, containing her tears.

"It's a baby...Our baby."

She smiled and leaned down, softly pressing her lips against Jimin's. Minjeong breathed in and took her hand off of her belly, stepping closer to her and holding both of her cheeks with her hands as she kissed her deeper.

She broke the kiss gently and paused her forehead against hers, breathing out a smile.

...